Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon G. Adelson said in a statement released today that “the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business has been unprecedented, and I have never seen anything like it in my over 70 years of business.”

The 86-year-old US gaming mogul made the remark in a Sands China Ltd. statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The New York-listed Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) is the controlling shareholder of Hong Kong-listed Sands China. According to the statement, LVS beneficially owns approximately 70 per cent of the issues share capital of Sands China.

“Our greatest priority during this difficult time remains our deep commitment to supporting our team members and to helping those in need in each of our local communities of Macau, Singapore and Las Vegas,” Adelson said. “Despite these circumstances, our balance sheet strength will enable us to emerge from this pandemic with all our promising future growth opportunities fully intact,” the Boston-born magnate said.

“We remain extremely optimistic about an eventual recovery of travel and tourism spending across our markets, as well as our future growth prospects. “We are fortunate that our financial strength will allow us to continue to execute our previously announced capital expenditure programmes in both Macau and Singapore, while continuing to pursue growth opportunities in new markets,” Adelson said. According to the statement, Sands China incurred a net loss of US$166 million (MOP 1.33 billion) in the first quarter of this year, compared to net income of US$557 million in the first quarter of 2019.

At the end of the first quarter, LVS owned five of Macau’s 41 casinos, according to Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) data, among them one of the world’s largest casinos, The Venetian Macao in Cotai.